This is our yard, as viewed from the back porch, where I hang laundry. As you can see, it's very shaded, and spacious, especially for a lot so close to centre of the city. It's been an ideal play-yard for the kids, and we've added, over the years, to the small swing set that came with the house. We now have a large sand area, and a play structure with homemade climbing elements added on. We also have a soccer net in one corner, and some composting bins for yard waste. We poured the patio and laid the bricks, perfect for chalking, biking, and scootering. But there's room for more, as the kids grow older. We're currently saving up -- an all-family effort -- for a trampoline. A treehouse is in the works, too.

A few years ago, we added raspberry canes, which spread like wildfire. This summer, we've tried to contain them, and Kevin cleared paths so the kids could get in to pick more easily. The berries are ripe right now. This side of the yard has a bed of perennials, some which were here when we moved in eight years ago, and others we've added over the years. In springtime, the colours are insanely gorgeous. By July, it begins to look a bit weedy and sparse. Yesterday afternoon, the little kids and I spent a blissful hour and a half before supper picking raspberries, playing (them), and weeding (me). The weeding started giving me ideas.

Look at all this untouched space. As I weeded, I started to hear words in my head like "homestead," and "truckpatch," and "harvest." I started mentally cutting down trees: the old pear and apple, which give next to no fruit anymore. The black walnut. The mostly dead maple. The two Manitoba maples in the middle of the yard. (Wow, that's a lot of trees; what do you think, too many? Will we miss the shade?). But it would call down a lot more sunshine: the valuable morning sun especially. I started thinking goats and chickens, a barn cat, a dog. Could we petition the city to except us from its by-laws so we could have our own little carefully tended urban farm-plot? I won't ask for a pony. (Could I ask for a pony?).

Meanwhile, this is the extent of our backyard edible gardening: potatoes in the raised beds along the back patio. Kevin built these several years ago, and they've never gotten quite enough sun to nourish anything we've planted in them. This year, I added tons of compost and new soil. The potatoes were going to seed in our root cellar. Seemed like a good fit. I'd like to add another row of beds just below these, though it would mean sacrificing the tiger lilies currently sprouting on the incline. (My all-time favourite flower, and one I associate with being in the country).

Talking about thin spaces yesterday ... there is something about being outside in green space, no matter how hemmed in it is inside a city, that brings real peace to the mind. I've had my share of farm fantasies, but, really, I wouldn't want to move to the country because it would mean car-dependency; I love that we can walk or bike almost everywhere we need to go, and I love our close-knit neighbourhood for the kids (and for me, too!). But I'd love for our yard to be a farm-like sanctuary, too.

Something to dream about while weeding on a lazy summer afternoon. I'll keep you posted.